Labour rights, a new focus?
- timnicolle7
- Jul 8
- 7 min read
Times they might be a-changing; we are seeing some shifts in focus for ethical sourcing teams and labour rights specialists in businesses and brands.
Many clients and potential clients are bringing new labour-rights situations to us (labor rights in the US!). These are reaching the top of their inbox.
Risks and reputational considerations are significant.
And these are not risks in their traditional supply chains.
This post describes some of those very common situations - and also how business/brands can address the risks involved.
Labour rights - the supply chain model
The traditional focus for ethical sourcing and sustainability professionals has been the supply chain - that means suppliers who directly supply goods and services to the business or brand. In a retailer, for example, that would typically mean the "goods for resale" suppliers - companies that provide the stock that is then sold on to the consumer.
Most businesses focus their energies on setting appropriate standards that such suppliers are expected to follow, communicating those standards and then using self-assessment questionnaires ("SAQs") and social audits to monitor compliance. We might have reservations on the effectiveness of those approaches - but that is not what this post is about.
Labour rights - a new focus closer to home
Whilst the effort to monitor third party suppliers remains, there is an increasing understanding that labour rights can be compromised here at home - in domestic supply chains and other situations which are right on our doorstep.
And when this happens, the consequences can be significant in terms of negative publicity and the cost to put things right.
Moreover the process to monitor these risks can be different.
For example, most businesses operate multiple locations. They might be:
locations they own and franchise out to operators,
locations where construction, maintenance, cleaning and security services are involved,
locations in which processes are outsourced to others, and,
in all these situations, 3rd parties might providing the labour ("labour providers"), so not all the workers are employed by the business.
To understand if you have some of these risks, there is quite a simple test:
Do you know who all the people are who work in your locations or with connections to the use of your brand(s)?
Many businesses and brands, on closer inspection, are exposed to labour that is provided, paid and managed by third parties - and this is happening right here at home.
The picture can be complicated
Modern slavery policies and supplier monitoring processes are often set up with traditional supply chains in mind.
On close inspection, you might find that these statements and policies do not really work when it comes to dealing with your own locations and some of these situations that we can find closer to home.
A policy written to monitor suppliers does not work if, as a legal matter, it is you that is supplying the services. This can be the case if you are supplying your brand, systems and processes and even premises to a franchisee that, in turn, operates a business using the resources that you have provided.
Your reputational risks can also be multiplied here. Public expectations of ethical compliance are higher in your home markets. Delegating, out-sourcing, franchising out operations does not diminish due diligance and compliance responsibilities.
The market simply sees a business operating under your brand.
And the picture can get more complex if third party labour providers are involved - since labour conditions might be set in practice by parties with whom you have no direct contractual relationship, and even might not know.
Some examples
These are real-world discussions that, in 2025, have risen much higher up the agenda with clients in the UK, Europe and US.
Example: seasonal workers in the ready-meals industry
Own-label, ready-meals made for supermarkets are manufactured under contract by experienced domestic suppliers. The supplier is contracted and the brand is licensed to the supplier to enable the products to be manufactured.
The breakdown of responsibilities and risks can then span a number of organisations:
The supplier, responsible for health and safety on-premises (they manage the location);
3rd party labour providers who employ the workers, determine where they work, and provide transportation;
3rd party accommodation providers who may also be the labour provider, and who house the workers (workers may have travelled from other countries to take the work), and who may exercise some level of control over workers when they are not at work;
Visa-sponsors who are responsible for workers once they are in country with respect to the authorities; and
Foreign recruitment agencies who are responsible for recruiting workers from overseas.
All of these different parties are a potential source of risk to workers and each of them manages different aspects of each worker's labour rights.
Moreover, the business / brand involved at the centre of the process is not directly contracted with many of these parties, whose roles and identities may change from time time. The business or brand may not always even know who they are.
Labour rights - a new focus is emerging
An analogous picture can be found across many domestic business situations. Here are some other examples:
Out-sourced distribution units in parcel-delivery
Franchisees
Construction sites
Farms and suppliers of fresh produce
Landlords providing premises to tenants or operators
Here are a few examples where these kinds of risks are emerging and reaching the attention of the public:
What's needed to manage risks in these new situations?
The first step is to analyse business operations.
This is to identify all those situations where the business or brand has responsibility for the fair treatment of workers. That responsibility can emerge because of ethical considerations, operation of law, in the court of public opinion or where business might knowingly or unknowingly profit if worker rights are compromised.
In each such situation, an identification of all the parties involved in the management of workers and their legal relationships is essential.
As a general principle, understanding how labour rights are respected and ensuring that appropriate standards are complied with requires clarity on who has direct responsibility for what.
Second, there may be a need to review the scope of policies and procedures.
As mentioned above, whilst Modern Slavery Statements and related policies and procedures are often writtenwith traditional supply chains in mind; they may need to be re-written and expanded to deal with the kinds of situations that are mentioned in this note.
Third, identify the right approach:
Given the layers of complexity involved in some of these situations, the traditional approach of SAQ and social audit may not be possible, effective or affordable.
Brands / businesses can lack direct access to all the parties involved - whose identities may be changing from time to time.
With multiple moving parts and fragmented responsibilities, fluctuating and often seasonal workforces - it will be important to use a continuous worker monitoring solution like "Ask the workers".
A platform like Ask the workers enables a single source of evidential truth to be obtained directly from the workforce itself, and on a continuous basis irrespective of the underlying arrangements and responsibilities.
Continuous monitoring - how does that work?
The new breed of continuous monitoring platforms, like Ask the workers, can be implemented with a light touch - and it covers "all-the-workers", "all-the-time".
This is a technology which is "location-based". It is implemented and covers all the workers who are at a location. That's no matter where they sleep at night, who procured their visas and who actually employs them in law. So once the location is on board, the workers can be reached - simply, practically, effectively and affordably.
The key party is the organisation controlling the location where workers work.
That key party can be yourself - especially if the location in which workers are working is one that you provide (eg: for a franchisee or a construction site).
If the key party is not yourself, then it is very likely to be your directly contracted-supplier - for example, a farm or a factory.
Monitoring is achieved by gaining feedback directly from the workers - all the workers, all the time.
Workers download an app which they can use every day to provide feedback across the whole of their working experience. It is not a survey.
They register using a location code that is only available at the location where they work.
No names, emails or phone numbers are required and each worker provides basic demographic details about themselves on first registration.
Crucially this can include who legally employs them, who provides their accommodation and who organised their visa.
This means that all the workers can be reliably reached.
And that's without needing to organise social audits or to send SAQs to organisations that you do not contract with and may not always know.
Once data flows, it can be mapped back across the multiple parties that might be involved. This enables risks to be understood and allocated, sources of risks to be identified, demographic information to be analysed (to understand vulnerability and potential root causes) and then to build effective paths to remedy.
Labour rights - new realities
These developments reflect broader changes in society.
With an increasing "gig economy", and with new business models emerging - labour rights due diligence processes need to keep up.
The "Ask the workers" platform is a very important development for the global market - especially given new realities that are emerging into mainstream business models as set out above.
Workers tell us - and then we tell you.
Whether you have 10 suppliers or 10,000 suppliers, we are the platform that you need. And our platform copes directly and "out of the box" with the more complex situations described above.
Get in touch with us to find out more:
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